Weirdo Leonardo

May 16, 2002 12:04 AM

Weirdo Leonardo "This web site is about the stranger artworks and writings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and includes ideas and images that may disturb." Michelangelo is reported to have said of Leonardo that "He cannot create, only imagine." If so, what an imagination! The grotesque and anatomical figures. The magnificent machines.
posted by vacapinta (12 comments total)

Ha! "The penis does not obey the order of its master," wrote Leonardo, "and must be said to have its own mind."

That guy invented everything, even the king of lame excuses.
posted by pracowity at 1:30 AM on May 16, 2002

Recent MRI scans taken by Dutch scientists of couples engaging in intercourse

Uhhhhh?
posted by WolfDaddy at 1:50 AM on May 16, 2002

> Recent MRI scans taken by Dutch scientists of couples
> engaging in intercourse

Remember those ads for X-ray Specs? These guys really sent away for them.
posted by pracowity at 2:06 AM on May 16, 2002

awesome link. i have always more appreciated leonardo's subversive humanism over michaelangelo's piousness.
posted by elphTeq at 2:41 AM on May 16, 2002

The MRI thing

I remember seeing this on TV.
posted by emf at 5:11 AM on May 16, 2002

This site has some cool items on it, but overall seems pretty thin. Anyone have any other good Leonardo references?
posted by Irontom at 6:01 AM on May 16, 2002

I have always had a fascination with Leo. He is one of the few people of whom my respect grows as I read and find out more about them. He predicted water on Moon in his notebook currently known as Codex Leicester ^{1, 2} in 1506-1510; almost a century before Lippershey (1608) or Galileo (1609) 'invented' the telescope and almost five centuries before NASA/CIA verified that there is ice on moon^* in 1998.
posted by tamim at 6:31 AM on May 16, 2002

Whoa, wait a minute -- I thought Leonardo was one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Are you trying to tell me that there was ANOTHER Leonardo?

Sorry -- I had to.
posted by davidmsc at 7:58 AM on May 16, 2002

Info about the Johannites was interesting, with Jesus as the usurper of the true prophet. That scythe machine was pretty nasty though - like a blender for people.
posted by mdn at 9:19 AM on May 16, 2002

Another joke - "A girl showed the vulva of a goat to a priest instead of her own, and took a grosso [a silver coin] from him, thus fooling him."

"It pleases me to be here in the Catskills. I shall be here until the week's end. Give generous gratuity to your waitress."
posted by Hildago at 11:50 AM on May 16, 2002

tamim: If you are interested in stuff like that, you may enjoy The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750–1900 by Michael Crowe.

I'm reading it right now, and I think it's great.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:37 PM on May 16, 2002

land-sea rescue whale
posted by quonsar at 4:17 PM on May 16, 2002